Search This Blog

About Me

Am a contradiction of sorts. i love going out and having a good time with friends, and i can also stay home chill out over a book or a movie.. Am very passionate about writing, so give me a topic and watch me float away into wonderland... I Am crazy about music,books,friends and my doggie... :)

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

We had just walked out of the movie and were hungry, well, it was nearly 1pm. Since we were not fond of any of the outlets in the Mall, and it being a Sunday, the whole world and sundry had landed there, we decided to get out and go somewhere else. Our usual haunt is no more, and most of the other places we had frequented way too many times. That is when a bell went off in my head and I asked A if maybe we should check out Bombay Brasseriein College Road. Friends had been there few days ago and gave a mixed bag of opinion. I opened Google, found the address and we hailed an auto the place.

It is located near Marina restaurant on College road, on the right side. As you walk in through the gate, you see an glass room with seating [quite beautiful, would be ideal on a warm lazy day with friends] and then we entered the doors to find another seating area inside as well. The place had citrus green on the walls, and the furniture were all deep wood while the cushions and sofa had beautiful mix of turquoise and green. There were a few cabinets and curio pieces that caught our eye, they did stand out. Oh and did I mention this place is yet another feather in Mr Mahadevan's hat [ Oriental cuisines fame]... [read about the place here- link]

After we were shown to a table, near the open kitchen, a waiter came over and offered the menu card. We spent a good few minutes going "Hmmm, oooh, aaah, nice, wow, cool, sounds yumm, like the look of it" we ordered the Nariyal aur Sabzi shorba which was quite creamy yet light. It was served up in big bowls that had "SOUP" written on them. The salt and pepper shakers resembled the weights used by your local veg vendors.

The menu was filled with dishes that are from various streets of our country, Delhi to the Konkan coast, Lucknow to the North West frontiers, and much more. There are roti varieties, rice, vegetable starters, non veg dishes, and desserts that blew us away. The dishes were all fairly simple, low on masala and high on flavours, which is what makes them stand out!!

We had the Tandoor Gobi starter and for main, I chose the Chur Chur paratha [ it was crisp and had a sprinkling of chilli powder] while my friend chose Rumali Roti that came in a small paper bag. To go with the rotis, we ordered a Kaali Dal [ dal Makhani] and Bhindy sabzi, both of which had distinct flavours. And to finish off the meal, we ordered two quite different desserts. One was the Paper baked Chocolate pudding [ there was a molten lava cake of sorts in a paper parcel and it was served with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce]. I went the traditional route and ordered the Amritsari Kulfa [ Kulfi served on a bed of badam phirni and topped with falooda with a sprinkle of rose syrup]- I loved it, just wish they hadnt used the rose syrup [not a big fan]

The entire meal worked out to about Rs1400 odd.. Infact, there was quite a bit of the side dishes left that we decided to take them home!! Overall, quite a memorable experience..

Sunday, June 1, 2014

There she was, born into a very ordinary middle class family, married off at a young age to a rich man, she led a lavish life till her husband fell ill and was bed ridden. That is when things changed, her family got into a financial turmoil. She took it upon herself to learn cooking, and got into catering service. Inititally she worked for nearly 18 hours, and started small with an order for 20 people. And now, nearly 2 decades later, she is a quite renowned for her food and gets invited across the country to not only be a part of Food fests, but also talk to women on how they can stand on their own feet. She is quite an inspiration!! Am talking about Chef Sarita, who is a Maharashtrian but has made Goa her home. . She now runs her own catering company, supported by her kids. We met her at Residency Towers where spoke to us in length about the Goan Food Festival and her involvement in the same.

It is not every day that you meet someone so humble and inspiring! She went on to talk about the dishes, how in Goa there were 3 major communities each with a different set of spices and palettes. As we were chatting away, we were served not one but 2 mocktails, refreshing indeed.. Since I was the only veg in the group, I had to wait for my starters to arrive. The Canapes that arrived were yumm- I quite loved the soft crisp cups and the flavour filled veggies within it. It was topped with mayo+onions. After that came the tandoor paneer which was alright [ felt the paneer was tad dry and chewy]. From there, I made a beeline towards the buffet where I sampled some of the dishes. There were not too many Goan dishes there, esp in Veg section, apart from the Daal, which was alright. Quite liked the Cauliflower starter and the baby potatoes tossed in herbs. As for the other dishes they were from the usual buffet...

Since I had to leave early,I quickly raced across to the Dessert counter and grabbed a bibinca [ a layered dessert famous in Goa] which was good [have had it before and so knew what to expect in terms of taste and texture]. I do wish they had served us Kokum juice instead of the regular mocktails and the place was done up with some Goan touches.

The highlight of the evening apart from meeting the Chef were the 2 singers. They were amazing. Dressed in Goan attire, they came over and belted out quite a few numbers, having us tapping our feet. It sure added to the evening. The one song they sang that still plays in my head is the Makanaka Song..Video Clip recorded at the venue

The Chef was sweet enough to extend an open invitation to us to stay with her and enjoy Goa and the cuisine with her... Well, it has been 5 years since my last visit and me thinks it is about time I made another plan!!

The Festival is on from 28 May – 8 June. The buffet is priced at Rs1000 inclusive of all taxes per person. For children between 7-12 years of age, it is Rs 600/- inclusive of all taxes per child and for children below 6 years, it is complimentary.

You can read all about how the evening started here in Part 1 and then come back here to read how the night ended.. Yes, I do know there is a section missing in between. Following suit with one of my favourite songs, am saving the best for last.. :-))

The 1st visit to Hyatt was good, we were quite happy and then came the mega high and finally we landed at Hilton, the place highly recommended by Doc.. He spoke quite a bit about the Macarons and how on his way home from the airport, he normally makes a quick stop to grab a few home. We walked into Est, their 24 hour coffee shop in the lobby but not before drooling at the wide range of desserts on display. There were macarons [ quite large in size and prized at Rs30], and then there were plenty of Mango based desserts as well in the display nearby.

We picked out 3 Macaron- one strawberry, one blueberry and green apple. I also ordered a cup of Coffee and Doc went ahead to order a Salmon bagel.

After clicking a few shots of the good looking macarons we quite eagerly took a bite of it.. I paused, put down the macaron and looked at the other two faces.. One of them mirrored mine while the other was oblivious and went about enjoying his.. The macaron- though was huge, lacked any kind of flavour. It was almost like the ones we get from Tutucorin [infact those are better]... When we pondered, Doc said it usually is different..

Hmm, probably a one off day the macarons were bad... I enjoyed my coffee and Doc his bagel before we hit the road calling it a night.

Looking fwd to more such fun evenings with the gang! Until next time, adios!